Newcastle University

Northern Reform Union

Cowen reinvigorated radicalism in the North East when he established the Northern Reform Union, in 1858. After three months, membership had grown to 481. The Union's aims were disseminated and Cowen travelled around the region delivering addresses, courting the middle classes and informing the working classes about various abuses.¹⁰ As the Union gathered impetus, its members lobbied M.P.s, organised petitions, utilised the national radical press, and exposed electoral corruption but it failed to make the desired impact or to effect change.